DO NOT USE THIS TAG just because the question deals with a law of physics!
All physical systems obey physical laws. Hence it is often a poor way to classify a question to use this tag.
Questions tagged [laws-of-physics]
193 questions
104
votes
18 answers
Why do most formulas in physics have integer and rational exponents?
I mean, why is $F=ma$? Why not $m^{0.123}$, $a^{1.43}$ or some random non-integers or irrational?
I hope you understand that my question isn't limited just to force, energy, velocity, etc.; it also extends to the area of a square, circle, etc. and…
dushyanth
- 1,293
15
votes
3 answers
Do the laws of physics work everywhere in the universe?
Do the laws of physics change anywhere in the universe? Or will they change from place to place in the universe?
Rohith1236
- 307
7
votes
3 answers
Are there any physics formulas with high/large exponents?
Most physical laws seem to only have low integer exponents for their variables - in my experience I've never seen a physical law containing variables raised to a power greater than 3 or occasionally 4. Are there any physical laws containing…
Equinox
- 71
6
votes
3 answers
Aren't all physical relations non-linear?
It is well-known that Hooke's Law is only approximately true and thus that linear relation
is merely an idealization not strictly corresponding to the reality. Wouldn't it be necessary/appropriate that all linear relations decribing physical…
Mok-Kong Shen
- 227
3
votes
3 answers
Do the same laws of physics hold in two different locations that are infinitely far away from each other?
Another way of asking the question:
Suppose there are two locations A and B, and the distance between A and B is infinite. Suppose there are two observers, one at each location, and finally assume that initially the laws of physics are the same in…
Chidi
- 187
3
votes
0 answers
Why are most physical laws dependent on small powers?
The equation with the highest exponent I could find was the coefficient of energy loss of light scattered in an optical fiber:
$$
{\displaystyle \alpha _{\text{scat}}={\frac {8\pi ^{3}}{3\lambda ^{4}}}n^{8}p^{2}kT_{\text{f}}\beta }
$$
which has a…
Nine Thousand
- 189
3
votes
3 answers
How to conclude that some correlation does imply causation
I'm trying to prove that all physical THEORIES are just experiments and tests that conduce to assumptions about correlations between causes and results. BUT how physicists conclude that a relationship is a CAUSATION and not only CORRELATION ?
When…
Mostafa 36a2
- 133
2
votes
2 answers
Does the principle of explosion mean we can prove objects must "fall up" because QM is inconsistent with GR?
(Not sure if this is more appropriate to the Maths.SE)
The Principle of Explosion is a law of classical logic which says that if we accept inconsistency, then everything becomes possible. I am wondering how this works in the physical world, since we…
Allure
- 20,501
1
vote
0 answers
Why are so many physical laws expressed in terms of *integer* powers of some quantities?
Why are so many fundamental physical laws expressed in terms of integer powers of some quantities? I'd expect this to be a very, very unlikely occorrance, since the Nature doesn't know that "we count by fingers".
citadel
- 119
1
vote
0 answers
Why are squares, square-roots, and second-order differentials, common in natural laws, but not cubes, cube-roots, and higher order effects?
Natural laws often feature squares and square roots, and second-order differential equations. Cubic laws, cube-roots, and third-order differentials are fairly rare.
(Some counter-examples: square-cube laws turn up when area/volume effects are…
spraff
- 5,118
1
vote
0 answers
Are there any physics equations that involve exponents >= 5?
This might be a strange physics question, but I am curious about it. Are there any physics equations that involve exponents $\geq$ 5?
There are plenty of equations with square exponents. Inverse square laws are the most obvious to me, like the…
DrZ214
- 674
1
vote
1 answer
An electricity experiment
Ohms law can be sated as V=IR.
a. Suppose in an experiment, data is collected of the variation of current with
resistance R. Next a plot of R vs I
-1 is made. How does one determine the
value of V from that graph.
Joshua Attih
- 11
1
vote
2 answers
Has there been any serious work in how the world would look if basic physical laws were changed?
Has there been any serious work in investigating how the world would look if certain basic physical laws were changed?
Like if gravity or electromagnetism laws were changed to have different dependencies, how would these affect our macroscopic…
countunique
- 1,663
1
vote
1 answer
How are proportional relations derived in physics?
I would like to ask a simple question :How are proportional relationships in physics found?
To be more specific, let's consider a simple law, Ohm's law, which states $\Delta V\propto I$. Now, it seems intuitive that as the potential difference…
codetalker
- 972
0
votes
1 answer
How do you interpret the product of two components?
I hope this isn't borderline philosophy. It is really difficult for me to articulate the question and so Google was of no use to me. The question spawned when I was learning laws of conservation of energy, because although I can calculate the…
LearnIT
- 113